Memorandum of agreement with the Singapore Zoo

After much discussions, on the 14.March 2006 the Singapore Zoological Garden (incl. Night Safari) and Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research/Department of Biological Sciences, NUS signed a memorandum of agreement which formalises the existing collaborations and create a solid foundation for future research on biodiversity and conservation genetics between our outfits.

The ongoing research includes a project on primate phylogenetics for which the Singapore Zoo is providing tissue samples from its important primate collection and the NUS collaborators (primarily Rudolf Meier) are sequencing mitochondrial and nuclear genes.

In another project, the partners are exploring species limits in Southeast Asian Trachypithecus species. This will also form the basis for any future tissue bank we may set up in NUS with our partners.

The agreement was the basis of comments made by the zoological gardens chief vet, Chris Furley, last week in the STRAITS TIMES last week when the zoo's new vet centre was annouced. In this article, he stated that the zoo was working with NUS as part of their expanding research efforts.